


Up All Night

by ImaniJoain



Series: Unlikely Singularities [5]
Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Women, F/M, Graphic Description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-04 20:37:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10998540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaniJoain/pseuds/ImaniJoain
Summary: The Avengers are on a mission and have left the base in excellent hands. Bucky Barnes and Wanda Maximoff can surely defend two raw recruits and the handful of significant others for a single weekend. The villains always attack at the worst possible moment, however, so it is a good thing that the Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch have more backup than the bad guys bargained for. Girls' Night just isn't complete without at least one explosion.  *Takes place 6/17/17





	1. Midnight Cravings

**_June 17, 2017_ **

 

“Do you have it yet?” Wanda was shifting in excitement, the starry sky above the Avengers’ facility roof a dramatic backdrop.

Jane readjusted her telescope and then stood to make room. “Go ahead, it’s in focus now, and you should be able to see the shadow moving across the surface.” The younger woman sat, her long hair pinned out of her way by a pair of lacquered chopsticks. Audible noises of excitement fell from her lips along with mutters in Sokovian. Darcy couldn’t help but grin from her chaise lounge. Jane was smiling, and as happy as she ever was out of her lab when Thor was off world. Pepper Potts - the great, amazing, unparalleled vision of intelligence, grace and beauty, Ms. Potts - was at her side in a similar chair. They each had a light throw to keep off the early spring chill and a cup of hot chocolate.

“How long will it take?” The CEO of Stark Industries managed to look casually elegant in an oversized _Enter Sandman_ sweatshirt and yoga pants.

“Oh, a couple of hours all together,” Darcy replied.

“One hundred thirty-eight minutes,” Jane said at the same time. “But Mars will only be in full shadow for about twelve minutes. And the shadow won’t actually cover the entire surface, just enough to create a halo effect.”

“Can you imagine? We are witnessing something that only happens every few hundred years. Most people probably don’t even know about it!” Wanda’s enthusiasm was contagious.

Darcy laughed and took another sip of cocoa. “Even if they did, not many people have access to high-powered telescopes.”

“Yes,” Pepper agreed, “fortunately, most people don’t have access to a billionaire with instant gratification syndrome.”

Hope van Dyne stretched across a blanket toward a large picnic hamper. She smirked. “Indeed. But any billionaire can buy a telescope. Only powerful business women would remember the important things.”

“Here, Here!” Darcy chanted as Hope passed out warm breakfast burritos.

Pepper reached into her own hamper and pulled out another full thermos of expensive imported hot chocolate. She refilled everyone’s cups and Darcy topped them off with whipped cream. “To the newest CEO of Pym Tech,” Pepper raised her cup and nodded at Hope.

“To the greatest CEO of Stark Industries,” Hope replied.

“To brilliant women,” Jane said, smiling.

“To friends we can trust with our lives.” Wanda’s proclamation was more serious, but just as heartfelt.

“To a whole weekend without stinky boys!” At Darcy’s loud proclamation, the other women all broke out into loud laughs.

“That is very rude Darcy.” The deep words had Darcy Lewis screaming and tossing her hot chocolate back over her chaise lounge.  She had scrambled up and was ready to fight before she noticed that everyone else had not moved, but was just staring behind her. Eyes wide, smiles threatening. Slowly, as if there might be a rattlesnake at her feet, Darcy turned around.

Over six feet tall, white shirt soaked through with sugary hot beverage and a marshmallow stuck to his metal arm, Bucky Barnes looked every bit as intimidating as the Winter Soldier had been. “Er…” Darcy quickly tried to think of an adequate apology for coating her boyfriend’s 100-year old best friend in cocoa. There was only one solution: go on the offensive. “That’s what you get for sneaking up on people!  Talk about rude! A delicate young woman such as myself could have fainted and gotten really hurt. You should be ashamed of yourself, James Barnes!” Unfortunately, her use of his first name didn’t seem to phase him; Bucky remained stoic.

“Everyone else knew he was there,” Pepper tried to soothe her. “I don’t think he was trying to-”

“For crying out loud,” Jane threw her hands up in the air, “he’s a super-soldier! He can’t help but walk quietly. You, of all people, should know this.”

Darcy crossed her arms defiantly. “Steve usually gives me a surprise,” she folded her arms under her chest and muttered.

“I am not doing that.” Bucky’s emphatic pronouncement was met with a moment of absolute silence, followed by giggles and a blush that made Darcy question if her face was on fire.

“I believe,” Wanda managed through her own chuckles, “that Sergeant Barnes came up here with a purpose.”

“The trainees are bunked up, and I am starting my first perimeter walk.”

“You left them inside without any supervision?” Darcy whirled toward the ladder on the edge of the roof. Since the Avengers had been called out on a mission, Wanda and Bucky were left behind to guard the base and supervise the recruits. “Sweet baby jesus, Buck! Are you high?”

He grabbed her arm gently. “Friday,” Bucky said with tiny shrug. He steered her back toward her seat. Jane and Wanda still looked faintly horrified, Hope just looked puzzled, her burrito unwrapped and wafting delicious green chili smells across the roof.

“I implemented new protocols after the last incident,” Pepper assured the crowd. “When Peter is in residence he and Photon are not allowed near the labs or kitchen. And the training rooms are restricted without security clearance.”

“You’re sure?” Darcy hesitated. She really didn’t want to have to leave girls’ night, especially not since it was Hope’s first time to visit them on the East Coast, just so that she could babysit two teenagers with more energy than sense. It was a rare calm visit. Steve and the others were all safe and just finishing clean up after their mission and would be home in another day or two. There were no crises or Science! Deadlines. There was enough green chili deliciousness and hot chocolate to last them until dawn, and she had the supplies for crepes and mimosas ready for brunch. Tony and Steve hadn’t broken out in a snark/staredown in almost a month, and no one had called requiring her mediation services. She hated to ruin a perfectly amaz-balls weekend following around the Spider-kid and a girl who thought her powers of invisibility were hil-air-i-ous.

At Pepper’s nod, she returned to her chaise, prepared to enjoy the rest of the night - or rather, very early morning. “Oh, hey Bucky?” The man turned at the edge of the roof to look back at her, his arm gleaming dully in the starlight. “Steve said he saw bear tracks out there. They like sweets, so you might want to change.”

Hope was eyeing Bucky’s clinging shirt with admiration. Wanda was laughing behind her hand while Jane grinned. Darcy felt pretty satisfied with herself, it was adequate comeuppance for scaring the bejeezus out of her, until he shook his head.

“Wouldn’t make a difference. I was born sweet.” He winked, the motion looking a little insane with the rest of his blank face, and then jumped off the roof. Darcy couldn’t help it, she laughed. Everyone else joined in, and as she bit into her burrito, she thought that it was the best night she had had in a long time.

An hour or so before dawn, astronomical twilight, Jane called it, the eclipse was long over, the burritos consumed – Darcy felt justified in eating three, and Pepper was pouring the last dregs of cocoa into everyone’s cups. Wanda had fallen asleep curled up in one of the lounge chairs, while Jane, Hope and Pepper sat on the blanket waiting for sunrise. Pepper had grown quiet, starting to flag after a sleepless night, but Jane and Darcy had hit their second winds. Pulling all-nighters in the name of science was excellent training for slumber parties.

“It’s not quite the same,” Hope was saying. “Scott has been cleared, just like Steve, of course. But he still has a felony on his record, pre-Accords. He is brilliant, but I could never let him into the company without making exceptions to a lot of rules.”

“Rules are made to be broken,” Darcy said simply. “Dumb rules, anyway.”

“Does he even want to work at Pym Tech?” Jane wondered. Hope opened her mouth, then closed it again, as if the idea hadn’t occurred to her before.

“From the corporate perspective,” Pepper said quietly, “it is often better to have the flexibility to utilize that kind of genius, without the legal responsibility to reign it in.”

“So you wouldn’t let Tony work for SI?” Darcy asked, her lips tilting in amusement.

“God. No.” Pepper gave a full body shiver, then laughed. “Tony owns the company. He is the most brilliant engineer in existence.”

Hope raised an eyebrow. “Agree to disagree.”

“Yes, favoritism.” The redhead made a face. “But he does not now, nor has he ever, been on the R&D payroll. Even when _he_ was CEO I did my utmost to keep him out of the SI labs as much as possible. There is only so much rule-bending a law-abiding corporation can get away with. And it was incredibly disruptive to the employees. He gave the EE group an espresso machine. In their circuit board testing lab. We had an EMP, two aborted missile launches, and a comfort robot that sexually harassed most of the mechanical engineers all in the space of a week.” Darcy laughed so hard tears squeezed through her lashes.

“I see your point,” Hope grinned. “Although I-”

“Shhh.” Wanda sat bolt upright, her hair tangled from sleep, and hushed the group. She looked off into the distance. “Someone…” She quickly crouched and turned off the small camping lantern in the middle of the blanket. “There are strangers in the woods,” she whispered. “They mean us harm.”


	2. Random Access Memories

**_June 17, 2017_ **

 

Barnes did not feel much in the way of cold. That was not to say that he no longer experienced it, but rather that it did not affect him as it might have once done. The way a native North Dakotan would find it laughable that Miami radio stations issued weather alerts if the temperature dipped below fifty-five, Barnes laughed at a light sweater on a June evening. A soldier who camped in the Alps in a  canvas tent, was trained and tortured as an assassin in Siberia, and then left in cryostasis for long periods had ambivalent feelings regarding anything above zero Fahrenheit. After all he had experienced, short-sleeves in the unseasonable mid-fifties at the Avengers base felt fairly balmy.

Despite the sickening nightmares that featured frost on his skin and blurry eyesight, he enjoyed it in a way. The cold was reassuring. Barnes ran hot, just as warm as Steve, and a chill breeze was always welcome on his skin. More than that, cold kept people indoors. It made everything quieter. Barnes liked the quiet. He hadn’t, _before_. Always preferred the music on in his apartment with Steve or the chatter of a girl in an overcrowded dancehall. He remembered all of that, the man he used to be, but the preference for quiet developed over decades of forced silence, accumulated years of tortured compliance, and more nights spent in a sniper’s perch than he could count had stayed with him. A lot of times, even when he wanted to talk, wanted noise, he couldn’t quite make himself open his mouth. It was frustrating, but if a desire to stroll alone in the woods was the only thing left in him by HYDRA then he would count himself lucky.

He finished his initial perimeter check quickly. Although he liked the cold, he did not enjoy the chafing wet, sticking feeling of cocoa soaked shirt on his chest. The look on Darcy’s face had been worth the discomfort. He saw three deer, fourteen and a half rabbits, and an owl. The bird accounted for the missing half of rabbit. The showy perimeter fence was intact. A mile in from that the more practical line of infrared cameras, pressure sensitive plates, and sound-activated recorders was also untouched. His run through the active defense systems was just as uneventful. All claymores, submachine guns, and concussive mines were in place and ready to go.  It had rained recently, and the ground was soft and muddy in places.

He headed back to the base and walked the halls, making sure all the security measures were in place. Friday verified the systems check in a low undertone. He looked in on the new recruits last. Photon was a snoring lump in her bed. The Parker kid was sitting up at his computer. Barnes didn’t say anything to him about the curfew. It was one of those instances where it worked to his advantage.

“Hey, there…Sarge. Er, sir. Mr. Barnes. How’re ya…I…” He scrubbed at the back of his head and shifted nervously. Barnes had to bite back a smile. The kid went completely into a hero-worship spiral whenever he saw Steve; it was almost as bad with the only other living Howling Commando. He clearly wanted to impress the Winter Soldier and earn the respect of Sergeant Barnes, but he was also terrified of saying or doing something wrong. Barnes wasn’t above admitting some enjoyment in the experience. “Um, so…I was just on this thread about parallel processing-”

Barnes pointedly looked at the clock on the wall. The kid swallowed whatever he had been about to say.

“Yeah, so, I was about to hit the sack. Hay. Bunk. Ah, probably best to get to bed. Early training tomorrow, right?”

The kid looked so damn hopeful. Eager. Excited about the prospect of one-on-one time with him. It was a baffling. And a little flattering. Barnes gave a sharp nod.

“Awesome! Yeah,” he stood and tripped over one leg of his chair. His Stark-issued Avengers sweats were too big and emphasized how skinny the kid was. It made Barnes think of Steve. Too small for all the morality building inside. It had to burst out somehow. At least the spider-kid could dodge a punch. Stevie had never been great at that. He pulled back the sheets and clambered in, still staring. “So. See you tomorrow?”

Barnes nodded again and Friday hit the lights as he shut the door. Steve hated that Stark wanted to train up teenagers. Barnes would never say it to Stark’s face, that guy was so contrary he could find insult in a willing naked woman, but Barnes agreed. Age didn’t seem to have any effect on power or desire to help, so those kids were going to be out in the world whether the Avengers trained them or not. Best case scenario, they could learn control before they hurt someone and stay out of the spotlight until they were old enough and smart enough to avoid being used. It was a hell of a thing. A hell of a responsibility.

It was the responsibility that kept him up. Normally he could sleep after the perimeter check. Three or four hours was all he needed a night, and there was always someone else awake and alert to danger. Someone who met his criteria for experience and ability. Someone who knew the value of always being on guard. Stark, Natalia, Barton. Steve, in a pinch, although Barnes didn’t like denying him time that would be better spent with Darcy. _Hell, if I had a Darcy_ – at that thought Barnes snorted and headed for his shower. If he lived in the fantasy land where murderer-traitor-amputees who had swiss cheese in place of a brain got to take home the girl, then he sure as hell wouldn’t be eager to leave her bed just to watch security feeds and wander the halls. Darcy was one of a fucking kind. In another world he might have had a chance with her, but she would have killed him of a heart attack with the way she – literally – jumped into danger. She and Steve deserved each other.

No. There was nothing and no chance of anything to excuse Barnes from guard duty. And everyone else was gone. Wanda was his partner and backup, but she was still a kid, really. Not much younger than Bucky had been when he was drafted, but he felt ancient in comparison. Even after what HYDRA had done to her, she deserved a second chance, and she had that here. Up on the roof with crazy, loyal Darcy, brilliant Dr. Foster, and the terrifyingly efficient Pepper Potts. Barnes was beginning to like the Wasp, too. Although it was more for the way she repeatedly shut down Lang than any skills he had seen in combat. Barnes sorted his laundry and stepped into the shower, nodding at his thoughts. Wanda deserved to unburden herself, at least for the night. And he physically couldn’t. Psychically, mentally, it was impossible for him to not double and triple check the perimeter and prowl the grounds. He wouldn’t be able to sleep without the others in residence, so he might as well be useful.

His shower was long. That was a luxury he never denied himself when he could. What he remembered of personal grooming with HYDRA had been cold water from a high pressure hose and disinfectant powder. He was strapped down and shaved, his hair trimmed, only when it interfered with his gear. Living on Stark’s dime it was a simple, honest pleasure to use as much hot water as he wanted. He had three different kinds of body wash and two bars of soap, two kinds of shampoo, in his shower so he always had a choice. Stark and Natalia made fun of him for wearing the same five outfits in rotation, but he could care less about his clothes. Which was a real change from _before_. Given the opportunity, however, Barnes always went into bed and into battle clean, shaved, and smelling good. He rarely stayed that way, but it wasn’t for lack of preparation.

An hour later he was dressed again, a pair of tac pants and a dark t-shirt with his boots. He had his usual assortment of knives on his person and just two guns strapped on his lower back. Darcy called them his casual guns – said they complemented cargo shorts and long walks on the beach. _A real riot_ , Barnes thought with a self-sacrificing sigh. There was nothing wrong with being prepared, and a lot wrong with not being prepared. He had stopped taking his rifle out with him, so Darcy could just bank the sarcasm.

He walked the second check in reverse, ending at the outer fence line. A jump and a few handholds was all it took to put him thirty feet up in a tree, with good sightlines along the most secluded stretch of fence. It was where he would try to come through, if he were attacking. He settled in to wait out the time until BMNT – beginning morning nautical twilight – when he would make his final round. The air was still. The leaves lay calm and undisturbed. An opossum and its babies walked across a branch in the next tree to the south. A fox crept through the undergrowth, pausing when it scented him before backing away slowly. It recognized an apex predator. An owl swooped down and the shriek of a baby rabbit was quickly cut off. He tensed his muscles to stand, knowing without a watch how long he had waited and that it was time to move.

Far below, near the edge of the fence, a sound caught his attention. Barnes froze. A soft, wet plop sent his brain into a methodical search for the source. _Leaves. Composted no more than one season. Damp with rain. Shuffled._

It could have been the fox, back again. It could have been an opossum or a rabbit, foraging. Barnes waited, stomach flat against the bark of a tree limb, his flesh hand curled around the knife strapped to his thigh. He breathed out slowly, evenly, careful not to squeeze too hard with his metal hand and give away his position with the sound of crushed wood. He did not have long to wait. One man slithered out from under the fence, barely bending the grass around him as he moved. The muzzle of his weapon was matte and held five inches off the ground. Perfectly level with his eyesight. _Professional. Field Specialist trained. A team probable_.

His assessment was correct. Within two minutes another three men followed the first. Once through the fence they all arrayed themselves in a shallow arc, taking cover in the shadows. Barnes was directly above the last man through. He had on night vision goggles, but didn’t check the tree above himself. _Sloppy,_ Barnes knew his high body temp would be a beacon if anyone looked. The intruder wore a vibration mic on his neck and spoke so quietly no regular human could have heard him.

Barnes was no regular human. Not anymore. He was the Winter Soldier. And he heard everything. He saw everything.

“Team one, in position,” came over the ear bud of the man crouched below Death. It was the first man through the fence who had spoken. “Secure first stage and wait for my signal.” With a hand gesture he stood halfway and began moving through the trees. He was quiet, but not silent. _Not good enough,_ thought Barnes.

When the last enemy moved to stand, Barnes rolled off the branch. He landed on his feet, not a twig disturbed, with his knife buried at the base of a skull. With his metal hand he lowered the body gently, leaving the gun but taking the service knife at the belt. He grabbed the night-vision goggles, but merely tucked them in his waistband. The earbud he took too. It remained silent while he removed his knife and wiped it on the dead man’s vest. The air was as cold as it would get that night, not yet beginning to warm with the approaching dawn, and the woods were still.

The second man went down without a twitch. Barnes took his knife and left the rest.

The third man dropped a package in his hand. Barnes caught the small brick of explosives, but the soft _tink_ as the detonator hit his metal hand drew attention. Without any thought, Barnes acted on instinct ingrained in him. He abandoned his knife, hilt deep in the man’s ear, and the munitions. The leader had turned when Barnes reached him. His gun was raised and his goggles gleamed in the weak starlight that filtered through the trees. Barnes spun into his personal space, checking the gun aside with his shoulder and getting one hand on each side of the enemy’s jaw. It was four seconds from the moment he stopped the electrical signals in number three’s brain until he snapped the team leader’s neck. It made a satisfying muffled crack that spoke to Barnes on a deep level. _Target down._

Barnes pulled out his phone as he moved back to the third man, collecting the explosives and any knives, including his own, and checking for other items of interest. His phone had no signal. He double checked. No wi-fi either. He should have been able to contact Friday and work with her to examine the rest of the perimeter to make certain no one else had entered. But Friday was unavailable.

The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and his abdominal muscles tightened pleasantly. Barnes felt a little irritated by the reaction, but it could not be helped. His body was conditioned to be ready for a fight, even if his mind was concerned about the people back at the base. There were only two options, neither ideal, and he needed to decide quickly.

“Team One,” a voice came over the earbud and made up Barnes’ mind for him, “moving to rendezvous with you.” Barnes scooped up a handful of cold mud and rotted leaves from the forest floor and began rubbing it on his skin to disguise his heat signature.

_So much for staying clean_ , he thought.


	3. Good Thing She's On Our Side

**_June 17, 2017_ **

 

“There are strangers in the woods,” Wanda whispered. “They mean us harm.”

“My suit is still in the car,” Hope responded. She looked calm and collected; it was a far cry from the sudden fear that gripped Darcy. This was not a good day for sudden villain attacks. It was a very, very bad day for that. She wrapped her arms around herself and sank a little closer to the roof.

“How many?” This practical question was from Pepper Potts, of course. She was pulling out her phone, tapping quickly at the surface. Wanda closed her eyes, concentrating, while Pepper continued, “Friday?”

“Ms. Potts, it seems I am having difficulty connecting to the main server. In addition, my sensors outside of the main facility are inoperable.” Darcy sucked in a breath. Friday was designed with multiple redundancies and backups. If the AI was running blind, it meant someone had targeted her specifically. That took a lot of intelligence, resources, and some fucking brass balls to target Tony Stark like that. Recent history had proven he didn’t take kindly to making things personal. Whoever was in the woods, they were not amateurs, which meant that the fight would get serious quickly.

“Teams,” Wanda muttered, almost to herself. “They breached the fence and…they are calm. Professionals.”

“Can you still monitor comms, Friday?”

“Only if they are within range of the transmitter in the main base, Ms. Potts.”

“Barnes is out there already,” Wanda’s eyes snapped open and she turned to Pepper. “He’s working quickly, but I- I think they will reach the base long before he can get them all.”  Darcy swallowed a mouthful of sour spit. Her stomach was churning and she pulled her arms tighter around herself. If Bucky got hurt, Steve would never forgive himself for leaving the base – even though there had been no reason to suspect an attack. If she got hurt… _these guys have seriously shitty timing._

“Since we cannot reach Sergeant Barnes, you are in charge, Wanda.” At Pepper’s announcement, a look of panic flashed over the younger woman’s face. It was quickly concealed, but Darcy was reminded that the Scarlet Witch had, for all intents and purposes, only existed for a short time. Prior to that she had just been a scared kid. She had been fighting with a team for a year, and had never taken command during a real engagement. Pepper seemed to sense this, although she didn’t comment on it. “If you are still considering your plan, I would suggest that Hope suit up and join you on the field. I can escort Jane and Darcy inside and Friday may alert Peter and Photon.”

“Ms. Potts,” Friday interrupted, “intruders are moving into range of the base sensors.” Pepper glanced down at her phone, frowning.

“They are coming fast. I can get these two to a safe room, but I’ll end up sealed inside the base.” Pepper paused. “Trapped in a bunker with flammables probably isn’t the best place for me.”

“I need you out here – even if it is just as a last line of defense. I can’t leave the base access undefended.” Wanda already had red light winding around her hands as she considered possibilities. No one had to mention the civilians that were sleeping inside. The chef and her husband, the handful of technicians, and a few lab assistants.

“Send the recruits out,” Hope suggested. She flipped through screens on her phone, and a car started up somewhere below, tires screeching on concrete.

Darcy immediately shook her head. Anxiety was clawing at the bottom of her lungs, making it difficult to take deep breaths. “No way. The kids haven’t even finished basic. They aren’t ready, even Tony said so. And Steve will flip his shit if they get hurt.” She glanced at Jane, whose eyes had gone black. She was maintaining control, but Darcy had no doubt that the Aether would be prepared if they needed it. “You should lock down the base.”

“Darcy,” Pepper began with a note of warning.

“Really,” she turned to Wanda, “do they have enough training to be more help than hindrance? Do they know when to hide? And if the bad guys get in, who will keep everyone in there safe?”

“Ms. Potts, combatants are surrounding the facility and will reach the edge of the tree line in approximately three minutes. Without external cameras I cannot determine exact numbers or firepower.”

She could see Wanda wavering, and Pepper ready to argue so Darcy rushed out, “Last week Parker accidently webbed Bucky’s rifle to his back. And Photon blinded Sam with that light blast – he nearly crashed.”

“But you…” Wanda glanced down, taking in Darcy’s body slowly. She finished hesitantly, “are more…delicate…than the rest of us.”

“I’ve got Darce,” Jane said quietly. “I’m too dangerous to have out there, but I have never hurt her. She’ll be safe with me.”

“If you are sure?” Wanda waited for Darcy’s nod. “Friday, lock it down.” A low warning tone sounded and the reinforced steel barricades began closing across windows and doors below them. “Wasp, suit up and get your comm connected to Friday. I want you moving among them. Pull firing pins, destroy weaponry. Make a nuisance.” Hope smirked and sprinted for the edge of the roof, grabbing the ladder at the last moment and sliding down out of sight. “Pepper- sorry, I haven’t trained with you.”

“I’d advise keeping me in reserve,” Pepper noted calmly. “I do the most good in an area of effect – eighty meters is best to be safe. I am not selective.”

“Right. There’s a good line of sight from the telecomm hut over there,” she pointed to the opposite side of the roof. “Jane, Darcy-”

“Out of sight – absolutely no problem.” Darcy saluted and pulled Jane toward a grouping of vents, dragging the blanket with her.

“Keep your phones on speaker, please ladies.” With that the Witch pressed an earbud in - Darcy wondered why she had one on her, and shoved her cell into her jacket pocket. Jane quickly followed instructions. Dawn was still a ways off, and Wanda’s silhouette was a red limned shadow against a black sky. She stepped up to the edge and spoke quietly, “Barnes is moving among them, he’ll cut off their retreat while we flank. We just need to find a way to signal him that we are-”

An explosion lit up the forest. Rolling flames and smoke bloomed in the night, followed by screams and the rain of earth and tree debris falling back to the ground.

“I think your Soldier signaled us first.” Friday relayed Hope’s dry comment over Jane’s phone, and Darcy had to stifle an inappropriate giggle.

“I can call the field from here, Witch.” Pepper said. Darcy could barely make out the irregularity in the shape of the telecom hut that was the CEO’s slim body laid out flat.

“Go ahead,” Wanda responded. “Wasp and I will engage at will.” A cloud of red formed at Wanda’s feet, rising and twisting until she was completely wrapped in a tornado of her own power. It lifted her, gradually picking up speed as she flew off the roof and down toward the enemy.

Jane muted her phone. “You’re sure you’re okay? Nothing feels – funny?” Her big eyes were huge with concern, the usual soft brown blotted out by black that covered the whites as well.

“Six weeks,” Darcy responded, blowing out a short breath and trying to convince herself. “Not even a thing yet. Let’s just keep the twerps and lab monkeys safe and take out these yahoos. They ruined Girls’ Night.”

Jane grinned, but it was more feral and threatening than her regular sunny smile. “We’ll celebrate when it’s over. Think how jealous Thor will be that he missed this.”

“Jealous,” Darcy snorted, “if he eats all our victory crepes there will be hell to pay.” She drew out her own phone and dialed up Friday. “I guess we better make certain we win.” Jane nodded, and turned back to her view of the roof, continuing to breathe carefully to maintain control. “Fri?” Darcy spoke softly. Another explosion, smaller but with louder screams, lit up the sky.

“Yes, Ms. Lewis?”

“I assume the kids are awake? I need to talk to them.”

“Photon and Mr. Parker are in the briefing room, I have patched you through.”

“Petey, this is Darcy, I need-”

“Miss Darcy! What is going on? I woke up when the base sealed and-”

“Darcy,” Photon spoke over the boy, “Friday won’t let us out, but I think I can shove Spidey through the vents and we can-”

“Cool your jets, greenhorns. There is another job for you.”

“But Miss-”

“We can-”

“Shut. It.” Darcy spoke through clenched teeth and the other end of the comm fell silent. “We are under attack and Friday has been cut off from the outside. She doesn’t have access to comms beyond the range of the main facilities systems and cameras on the building. You are the last line of defense if the building is breached, so I am counting on you to keep the civvies safe. Capiche?” She did her best to imitate Steve, but her Captain-America-Wants- _You_ impression was not nearly as good as his. The teens still responded affirmatively, although the pouting in their voices was obvious.

“In the meantime, Peter, I need you to interface with Friday. Try to figure out what is keeping her from connecting to her main server.”

“Yeah, okay. Cool, I can do that.”

“Darcy?” Photon was eager for a task as well.

“Tony said something to me a few months ago about an aural cannon. At the time I hoped he wasn’t serious, but see if you can locate one in the facility defense menu. If you can, get ready to deploy it.”

“On it.”

Darcy let Friday know to call her phone if the kids came up with anything and then hung up. As she turned to Jane, another explosion sounded and a short burst of gunfire went off to the east. Pepper’s voice was calmly announcing movement over Jane’s phone.

“Witch, your three o’clock is getting a bit crowded. Another team is breaking tree cover on the opposite side of the building. Wasp, if you-” The bark of a rifle was sharp, followed by a storm of other weapons. “Nevermind. I think Soldier has that side of the base covered.”

“Pe-” Wanda cut herself off quickly with a Sokovian curse. A shout and then several screams came through her comm. “Eyes in the Sky, you need a code name. It is going to take us too long to pick them off. We going to need an AOE.”

Darcy grabbed Jane’s hand, eyes wide. She had never actually seen Pepper use her ability, and hadn’t really been keen to do so. Both women were also vividly, personally aware of how hard Pepper and Tony had worked to keep Extremis a secret. If even a single attacker escaped, their enemies would know there was a new powered person with the Avengers. It wouldn’t take long to figure out who. 

“I will do my best.”

“Herd them my way,” Hope said, not even winded. Darcy pulled up one of the base cameras on her phone. She couldn’t see the tiny Wasp, but her presence was obvious by the soldiers who stopped to stare at their guns in surprise and those who suddenly found themselves tripping, falling, and being thrown into their colleagues. “I’ll slow this bunch down.” 

Gunfire continued in erratic blasts to the east where Bucky was working to take out fully one half of the attackers by himself. Jane breathed slowly, trying to remain calm while Darcy flipped through camera angles on her phone and tried not to let her fear consume her. Those were her friends out there. They were kick-ass motherfuckers, but they could still be hurt. Killed. And she had never felt quite as vulnerable as she did right then. Jane wrapped one arm around her waist. It was a small comfort. Her phone vibrated.

“Yeah?”

“Darcy,” Photon sounded excited in the way that only a teenager who wasn’t yet aware of her own mortality could be. “I found it! Mr. Stark installed a prototype on the east lawn for testing. It is in a below ground storage space.”

“Can you get it above ground?”

“You bet!”

“Okay, check the cameras before you fire and try not to hit Soldier. He’s working over there and we don’t have him on comms yet.”

“Don’t hang up!” Peter sounded far more worried. “Miss Darcy, I found the problem. It looks like someone inserted something in the hard line between the base and the trunk fiber. Friday was getting a false ping, so it took her a few seconds to know she had been cut off.”  A few seconds was a lifetime for the kind of processing power Friday had access to.

“What about satellites?”

“I think they’ve been diverted? Like somebody overloaded them or something – like a-”

“Distributed denial of service attack,” Darcy whispered. It was brilliant, really. Cut off Friday’s primary means of communication with a few seconds of delay to buy time to make sure her second route was also blocked. And if anyone else noticed that the satellites were not working, it would all be blamed on hackers later. “Can she find any satellites that aren’t affected?”

“We’re working on it. It looks like one is going to be in range in another two minutes, but it is government, ah, shit, whoops, shoot, I mean, excuse me Miss Darcy. Ah, it’s NSA.”

Friday spoke up, “My protocols prevent me from infiltrating the NSA, CIA, or directing robotic fabrication without authorization.” She sounded both apologetic and irritated. “Mr. Stark is still cautious about autonomy after the Ultron incident.”

“No shit,” Darcy murmured, trying to ignore the gunfire and screaming. A figure wreathed in red mist appeared above the roofline, turning and twisting as if his skin was on fire, before zooming off toward Hope’s location. Darcy hit the mic on Jane’s phone, "Can someone here give Fri permission to crack a government satellite?”

“Granted,” Pepper said calmly. “Wasp it looks like they are on to you, formation is changing. Friday,” she continued, “unlimited access for the next four hours.”

“Yes, Ms. Potts,” Peter and Friday both responded with varying degrees of excitement.

“Photon,” Darcy glanced behind her, unnerved by the sheer amount of automatic weapons fire coming from the east. “How is that cannon looking?”

“Up and ready, but it takes a long time to recharge, so I’m trying to hit as many as I can with the first shot.”

“Good girl, just-”

“I think we’re ready for some heat here,” Wanda called out.

Pepper stood up on the roof of the comm hut, heedless of the target she would make for any snipers. She had shed the sweatshirt, and the pale skin of her arms and face glowed in the pre-dawn grey.  “I need ten seconds to get in place. Let me know when you are clear.”

“I’m out,” Hope said, the buzz of her wings in the background.

“Go now!” Wanda yelled.

A sonic boom sounded behind the facility, and Pepper hesitated for a fraction of a second before leaping from her position. She hit the roof at a dead run, long limbs moving gracefully and beginning to glow in earnest.  Not even pausing at the edge, she dug in one tennis shoe and propelled herself out into the night. The arch was perfect. She travelled thirty feet horizontally, and Darcy had to lean up over one of the vents to watch her descent. Pepper disappeared from view, and a moment later the night lit up so brightly it blinded Darcy. A few screams started, but were abruptly cut off.

Darcy turned away, “Janey? Can you- I think I’m a little blind.” She blinked rapidly, staring into to darkness in the east and keeping the growing flames of Pepper at her back. Jane was listening intently to her phone and watching to see if anyone came up the roof ladder. Darcy was still seeing spots, but she was glad she had turned away when she caught sight of a helicopter. “Janey?” She slapped at the other woman’s arm. A second helicopter separated from the first. They were both moving fast, and in another second Darcy could make out the sound of their rotors over the crash and crackle of flames and the screams of the injured. “Jane!”

“What Darcy?” She turned around, just in time to see ropes drop from the helicopters. “Shit!” Jane looked stunned and inky blood began to coalesce and swirl under her skin.

Darcy grabbed Jane’s phone. “If anyone has a moment, we have a problem at the back door! Two-” There was a crack that echoed in the field around the base. The second helicopter shuddered, and then began to fall, blades moving unnaturally and sliding away from the body of the craft. “I, ah, one helicopter. Looks like they mean to drop in.”

“Going to take a moment,” Wanda reported, breathing heavily. “The boss and I are hemmed in. Wasp?”

“Moving,” Hope responded. The second helicopter crashed and exploded. “Goddamnit. I’ve got a wing out. Shrapnel. Give me a minute.”

Darcy could feel a cold sweat dripping down her back. Her stomach twisted and turned, threatening to bring up green chili and hot chocolate. The first helicopter was almost on top of them. A dark figure on each of the ropes, already descending. “Janey?” She sounded scared, but Darcy didn’t care. She was scared. She gripped Jane’s hand in one of hers and wrapped the other around her waist. She was terrified.

Jane stood up. Five feet nothing and a hundred and five pounds including flannel. She stepped in front of Darcy, still holding her hand, and darkness slithered under her flesh. Darcy couldn’t help it, she squeezed her eyes shut. There was a hail of gunfire.

Then nothing.


	4. Particular Set of Skills

**_June 17, 2017_ **

 

Enemies five and six went down easy. Number Seven carried a pack of electronic equipment, so Barnes left him alive while he slit the throat of Eight. He wiped his knife on the dead man’s tac vest and collected his rifle. Barnes was better suited to using it – considering he still had a pulse. An EDM Arms 50 BMG Windrunner. _Manufacture ceased in 2016. Bolt-action. Thirty-six pounds. Muzzle velocity of 853 meters per second. Accurate up to 2,000 yards. Breakdown in ninety-eight seconds._ Barnes had one of his own at the Tower. Although his had a modified magazine. The standard five shots would be adequate with the limited sight lines available on base.

Seven was beginning to wake from the blow Barnes gave him, gagging a bit around the wad of bloody shirt stuffed in his mouth. His arms were tied behind his back with his own belt. Restraints for his legs were unnecessary. Barnes had cut both his hamstrings. Slow bleeds, tightly tied. Plenty of time for interrogation. Once the Windrunner case was secured on his own back, Barnes crouched in front of Seven and opened the enemy’s bag. There was a rugged tablet, components for brute force entry on electronic locks, and an external hard drive.

“Answer quickly and quietly.”

Seven’s eyes narrowed. His nostrils flared. He would need proof of the severity of the situation. Barnes flipped the enemy over and pressed his face into the mud. With a quick motion the Winter Soldier cut off Seven’s index finger. The scream barely carried even to his own ears. He rolled Seven again and held him in place with a knee on his chest. Barnes put enough weight into it to make breathing difficult and yelling impossible.

“Your mission objective?” He pulled the bloody rag out.

“Fuck,” Seven spat under his breathe. The air from his mouth smelled like metallic blood and sour vomit. His eyes were wide and white from the pain. “Fuck you.”

The rag went back in. Seven’s left ear came off. When his muffled scream ended and he no longer looked like he would pass out, Barnes removed the gag again.

The enemy was more compliant. “Target acquisition.”

“Who?”

“You, fuckwad,” Seven spit out.

Barnes shoved the rag back in while he considered that information. A part of him – a loud part – wanted to sever the brain stem of his captive and then run. As far and as fast as he had to in order to make certain he never was held against his will. Not ever again. Only years of training and months of intensive therapy kept him calm. There was no way anyone should have known he would be on the base. If the enemy had waited for a call to assemble and then attacked, it would have taken incredible luck to capture him. If their mission had been Barnes’ to plan, he would have organized the call. Masterminded a situation that required the Avengers in a specific combination. As long as one person had to stay behind to guard the base, it would not be impossible to ensure that individual was Barnes. It could never be a certainty, however. And this enemy had allocated a great many resources to storming the facility. Such an offense would net high causalities. It would be logical to have a secondary objective to justify the cost.

“Primary target, Winter Soldier,” Barnes said softly. “Secondary?” He pulled the rag.

“Fu-” He abruptly swallowed his defiance when Barnes pressed a blade against the remaining ear. “Rogers. Then Widow. Or medical information on any Avengers.”

Barnes didn’t bother with the rag, just leaned more of his weight forward to keep things quiet. There were several things that Barnes, Steve, and Natalia had in common that the other Avengers did not share. Increased healing, stamina, agility. All thanks to the serum. Medical records would provide that information as well as data on Banner.  _It is always about the serum,_ he thought. There was more than one person after those secrets. HYDRA. Ross. He could think of a few Senators who had seemed too interested during the hearings to clear him. 

“Your employer?” He let up just enough to allow Seven to take a shallow breath.

“Private contractor. Sloan-Stirling.”  If that was true, then Seven wouldn’t have much more information.

“How many?”

“You’re gonna kill me anyhow, just fuckin’ do it. I’m not saying-”

Barnes leaned forward again, cutting off air and getting close enough to whisper, close enough that his words moved the short hair over Seven’s intact ear. He slowly slid his blade under the skin at the jaw line, separating flesh from muscle. “Death is for the deserving. You aren’t.” He leaned back and noted the pale cast to the enemy’s face. Pale everywhere but where he pulled out his knife and blood trickled steadily. “Yet.” Barnes allowed the man to speak.

“Twenty teams,” he gasped quietly. “Two snipers. Five munitions experts. Air support inbound. Two Mil Mii-8’s. Modified.”

“Field Leader?”

“Prochaska. Team Six. East approach.”

Barnes did not have anywhere to secure Seven, and he had already lost nearly three minutes on interrogation. He tipped the man’s head toward the ground and punctured the jugular. Seven was unconscious in thirty seconds, and would be dead in another two minutes. 

Barnes left the body behind and slipped on the night vision goggles. He moved East. Wanda would have to monitor the West, but with Wasp, the spider-kid and Photon she could get the civilians under lockdown and hold until he could provide support. Steve wouldn’t like the kids under fire, but it was tactically the right call. The Witch was good. Lacking experience, particularly compared to his own, and the confidence that went with it, but powerful. Her biggest weakness was fear for collateral damage, which was negated at the isolated facility. It would take two to three minutes to move Dr. Foster, Ms. Potts, and Darcy inside. _Darcy_. Barnes rethought his estimation. Darcy had been distracted lately and was not one to back down from action even under the worst circumstances. It would probably take Wanda an extra sixty seconds to account for Steve’s crazy-brave girlfriend. Barnes hesitated for a moment before altering his direction slightly. They needed a warning to get inside.

He crept along the physical defense line, ranging between the last heavily wooded area and the concealed emplacements. He passed two units without them noticing his presence. The enemy was moving slowly, cautiously. Barnes reminded himself to speak with Stark about how easy it apparently was to get intel on the facility. As he neared the direct line of sight from the roof ladder, he dropped to his belly and began crawling through the pressure plates.

_East - three. North – six. West – two. North – three. West – two._ He counted carefully to himself as he bypassed pressure plates and buried claymores. An enemy team was just entering the minefield when Barnes reached his target. He dug quickly and dropped in the brick of explosives he had salvaged. It was simple work to backtrack out of the danger area and return to the more dense groupings of trees. He swung back to the East, shoved his goggles onto his forehead, and pressed the detonator.

A fireball bloomed behind him, followed almost instantaneously by the boom of energy. Screams accompanied the smell of burnt hair and plant matter.  He had been conservative in his estimation of collateral damage. Too conservative. A heavy log crashed through the canopy a few yards away from him and Barnes picked up the pace. Through the stolen comm, he could hear chatter. A voice requested check-in. _Prochaska._ Then it ordered the snipers to set up. Seven’s teammate did not respond. The enemy noticed. Barnes continued moving quietly, slipping between shadows and past an enemy team. It grated on him to leave them alive, but he had more important objectives and couldn’t afford to be slowed down any more.

He set several explosive charges, then found an adequate position. High in a tree, Barton had established a narrow platform for practice drills. Barnes may not have approved of medieval weaponry when something like the Windrunner was available, but Barton had a good eye. He scaled the tree and listened to comms while he set up the rifle.

“Scarlet Witch is active.”

“Engaging. Taking – AAAAH!”

“Shit! There’s something else out here!”

“Team Five, reposition!”

“The ant-man was supposed to be accounted for!” _Wasp_ , Barnes thought with relish.  A frontal assault wouldn’t be her strong suit, but she could cause a lot of disruptions. As soon as he had the rifle ready, Barnes lined up with his scope and pressed his detonator. He closed his eyes for the initial fireball, to protect his vision, and tuned out the screams to listen for something more telling.

“Teams Six and Nine, on me.” Barnes waited for movement patiently. Six hundred yards away, creeping out of the tree cover, were eight figures. Eight figures, five shots. It was always best to keep one round in reserve.  _Calculated choice._ He slowed his breathing and judged each person. The voice of command, Prochaska, had sounded female. Three of the eight were too broad through the shoulders to be a woman. A fourth was too tall. Another had a case on his back, likely a second Windrunner. _Sniper, not a leader_ , he thought. That left three possible targets. Barnes put half-pressure on the trigger. He waited. Waited. Waited. The shot lined up.

He pulled the trigger.

A .50 caliber armor piercing cartridge travelled down two and a half feet of barrel, leaving a narrow plume of smoke and a subsonic pulse in its wake. The crack of the bullet came almost a full second after, but the sound was too late to alert the enemy. Through the sight, Barnes watched two of the three targets fall. The mark closest to him had taken the hit above the knee, losing the limb. He would bleed out in three to five minutes, unfortunately. The figure behind was impacted lower; no need to buy matching pairs of shoes anymore.  They both collapsed on the ground, screaming. The third target immediately hit the deck, using the wounded soldiers as cover to crawl forward.  Other enemy teams began firing toward his general location, but the trees interfered with accuracy. Barnes had one, perhaps two more shots before his position became compromised.

The sniper had broken into a sprint, crouched and serpentine, heading for the roof. Another enemy was with him, pulling a grappling gun from his belt. Barnes did not think twice about re-sighting. If the sniper made the roof, he would be in an excellent position to take out Wanda, Wasp, and the kids on the west side of the facility. With a Windrunner, he could also provide anti-aircraft defense if Friday had been able to summon reinforcements.  The second shot was trickier. Human bodies were too tender to substantially slow a 50 caliber; the bullet would still pierce metal and some thickness of concrete after exiting soft tissue. He glanced at the case for his Windrunner and mentally aligned it for carrying. His heart pumped once. Twice. He pulled the trigger.

The bullet passed through the gun case and into the composite stock, then exited the case and entered the upper ribcage, through the left scapula, soft tissues, and out through the sternum. It left a crater in the wall of the facility, but did not go all the way through. The enemy sniper fell, surprising the soldier next to him. Barnes adjusted his weapon again, but when he glanced at the field to rough position his next shot, he saw a shadow appear on the lawn. Out of the darkness, a long, square column rose. 

Gunfire that had been getting closer to him switched objectives, but the bullets had no effect on the dull metal box. Once it was fully out of the ground, it began to separate, flattening into a square dish that faced the trees. Barnes didn’t recognize the design, but he had a feeling that the more attackers in its range, the better. He bypassed his original target and sighted into the trees, looking for the trailing edge of the combatants. One, two shots. Three dead soldiers. The rest bolted away from the corpses, panicking and heading for the open field. A sonic boom radiated out from the dish, leveling all of the soldiers in its path and sending two trees crashing to the ground. Barnes was caught at the fringe of the effect, and his stomach revolted. He leaned over the tree stand in time to vomit, but it took nearly a minute afterward for his vision to clear and his head to stop spinning. The enemies with clear line of sight were twitching, having random spasms, or not moving at all.

Barnes’ ears began to work again at the same time he noticed the glow from the other side of the facility. He hoped briefly that Photon had not blinded any of her own teammates with the display, but he did not have time to dwell on it. Closer than he would have liked, two helicopters were approaching. The sounds of the battle and the grounds defense systems had obscured the rotors even from his ears. There was too much canopy overhead for him to get a visual, and they were moving fast. Barnes slapped up the bipod stabilizer and picked up the rifle with his flesh hand, ignoring the case. Using his metal arm he climbed the tree, no longer concerned about destroying bark or alerting anyone to his position. If the helicopters arrived unmolested, the odds of his teammates getting killed rose exponentially. Without backup, it was more likely that he would be captured. Whatever fear Barnes had for himself, it was nothing compared to what his enemies could do to Steve, to the rest of the team, if the Winter Soldier was under their control.

He distributed his weight across three branches, one for each foot and his metal hand, and rested the stock of the Windrunner on a fourth. No other sniper could have kept the sight steady with that much weight to support, but Barnes had serum enhanced strength and reflexes. The first helicopter was over his head, ropes thrown out for rapid descent. Barnes targeted the second. Directly below the blades was the main mast, a single metal shaft only a few inches wide connecting the blade assembly to the gear box. He only had one bullet. He accounted for the motion of the blades, the momentum of the helicopter, recoil, and his own pulse. Barnes pulled the trigger. The Windrunner fired, the recoil broke the branch the rifle was resting on. Barnes let the gun drop to point at the ground.

The second helicopter began to whine, the _whpft, whpft_ of the blades slowing and pulling out of rhythm. It began to list and one man fell out of the open door, barely grabbing onto a rope in time to save himself, at least temporarily. The shriek of metal was high-pitched and loud enough to be heard over the sounds of fire and engines. Slowly, the entire craft tilted and the blade assembly ripped away from the rest, still turning as it fell. It was in the light of the resulting explosion that he could make out two figures on the roof of the base.

Even from such a distance, Barnes could identify them. Standing, small and so slight she looked as if she might be blown away by the force of the oncoming wind, was Doctor Foster. Kneeling on the roof behind her was Darcy. Her squashy hat had disappeared, her curls were whipped around her head. She clutched Jane’s hand with one of her own and pressed the other to her stomach.

Between one breath and the next, Barnes reviewed a thousand little tells. Small changes in behavior and slips of tongue. Half-forgotten memories of his own youth, far away and a lifetime ago in a small apartment in Brooklyn. His mother, hearing the news that he had been drafted, her hand clutching her belly. _Please, God, no._ It had been a long time since Barnes had prayed, the faith had been burned out of him sometime between the first man he killed and Zola’s experiment.

Four men were descending on ropes, the helicopter nearly over the roof. Two innocents alone. Dr. Foster and Darcy, Steve’s girl with the sly eyes and wide smile and irreverent humor that he couldn’t shut out even on his worst day, they were alone against the enemy. _Please, God,_ he prayed to an ideal he no longer believed in, _please let it be only two._

He wouldn’t make it in time. He knew that. Even with his enhanced speed, even if it had been Steve in his place who was slightly faster and more indestructible, there was no way to reach the women before the enemy.  He jumped anyway. Using the solid barrel and butt of the Windrunner to slow his fall, breaking branches on the way down, Barnes continued to pray. Somewhere in all the tangled, deep fried mess of his brain he had a few things left that he could not stomach. A few things that would still hurt if he had to watch them be taken away. That might kill him. Would kill Steve.

His boots hit the ground and he rolled to absorb the impact, but his right fibula just above the ankle snapped. He still had one good bone to support his weight, so he kept moving, pushing the pain into that dark, cold place where the Winter Soldier had lived for seventy years. He made it more than a quarter of the way there before the first enemy touched down on the roof. There was a flash, a bubble of silence – complete lack of sound for a split second. Darkness blotted out the roof, no longer illuminated by the burning downed helicopter or the fight on the opposite side of the facility.

Then the first helicopter fell. It crashed into the lawn. Half of the rotors were missing, sheered off near the gearbox. So too was two-thirds of the body. Simply gone, cut away with laser precision and nowhere to be found. Barnes glanced up at the roof. An inverse dome had been cut into the building, scooping out concrete and steel like ice cream. One arm, clothed in black armor and still clutching a machine gun, lay on the edge of the dome. The women and the rest of the enemy were gone.


	5. Code Name TBD

**_June 17, 2017 - According to the Earth Calendar_ **

  

The sudden silence was startling, and it seemed to pull at Darcy’s skin like a bad carnival ride, tugging her with g-forces until she felt she would throw up. It was only a few seconds, but when sound and light returned Darcy collapsed on the ground, heaving up burritos and fear. She was still clutching Jane’s hand, her other pressed against the ground to support herself while she retched. Jane’s phone, screen cracked and case destroyed, was pinned under a rock. Slowly, she became aware they weren’t on the roof anymore. There was dirt under her palm, cold and gritty with sand and small stones.  The light too, was odd, it cast a sickly green tinted glow and shifted unnaturally.

Darcy looked up to find the cause, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. What she saw left her speechless. They were in a cave, at least twenty feet wide and just as tall. The mouth opened onto a desert. Dark brown sands blew through the air, swirling in eddies and currents that blotted out light and then let it fall again weakly to the surface. It was the light that froze the sweat on her spine and squeezed her heart with confused horror. Hanging in the sky was not a sun, but a ring of illumination that seemed to ooze from a black pit at the center.

“Jane?” Her voice cracked, and she lifted a shaking finger to point. “What is that?”

"Black hole,” Jane answered quietly.

“Cool. Cool. Right. Cool.” Darcy pushed herself to her knees and swayed for a moment, trying to take even breathes. She had tased a god. Found a dimensional portal. Kicked dark elf ass. Regularly hung out with Tony Asshole Stark. She was dating Captain Fucking America - and making sweet love to him as well, not just fucking him because she was a considerate lover like that. Darcy Lewis would not let weird shit keep her down.

“And I think that is a helicopter.” Jane was looking up.

Darcy barfed again. Weird shit she could deal with. Part of a human body and a helicopter fused to a cave ceiling – not so much. “Okay. Not so cool. Can we – like – not stand right under that?” Jane’s skin was still writhing with shadows, her eyes dark. Darcy tugged on her hand. “Janey, can we please go check out the creepy sand while we figure this out instead of waiting for that dude to drip on us?”

“Yeah, I- yes. Let’s go.”  They nearly made it to the entrance before Jane stopped again. Darcy was just beginning to get her equilibrium back. “Are you- oh, god.” Jane pivoted and turned wide eyes on her friend. “Is everything okay? Do you feel okay? I shouldn’t have, I mean, I didn’t intend to – oh, god! Is subspace travel safe for you right now? I’ve never asked, I should have, jesus, Darcy-”

She probably would have hyperventilated if Darcy hadn’t cut her off. “I’m fine, Jane. A little grossed out, but other than that, I’m good. And hey,” she smiled, “you transported a second person. Way to go, Dr. Brain.”

“I don’t…” Jane looked sheepish. “I didn’t mean for us to go anywhere, just, you know, the bad guys. And,” she frowned, “I was trying to send them to Tromso station.”

“Bumfuck Norway?” Darcy snorted, then laughed out loud. “Why there?”

“I’ve only ever been able to go places I have been before. New Mexico, my mom’s in London, the University that one time. Tromso has the fewest civilians and is furthest from the base.”  They both stood, staring out into the strange dust storm.

“So…” Darcy began. “Not Norway?” She gestured vaguely to the black hole in the sky.

“Uh, no. I’m pretty sure we’re on Harudheen.”

“Isn’t that the one Darth Vader blew up?”

“That was Alderaan, Darce. Thor calls it the Dark World. It’s where the elves came from.”

“That fucker Malekith? Where’s my taser?” Darcy patted her pockets, finding her taser, but not her phone.

“He’s dead, Darcy. Thor checked. But we have more important problems. No one lives here – except maybe some really pissed Dark Elves that were transported during the convergence. We don’t have a lot of options for help. And Heimdall has been a little busy lately to be looking after us.”  Jane stared down at the ground and squeezed Darcy’s hand. Her guilt was obvious. “I’m so sorry Darcy. I really thought I could keep you safe, that I had things under control – at least with you. I screwed up and now we-”

“Jane,” Darcy interrupted, “while I would like nothing more than to reassure you how awesome you are and how much I have always wanted to see another planet, we have bigger problems.” She pointed to a clumping of rocks a dozen yards away. Three soldiers were beginning to stir, a fourth was already standing and looking straight at them. “Looks like Hardy Heen isn’t so unpopulated.”

“Harudheen,” Jane corrected, her voice rising in pitch. “Oh shit, this is bad.”

“Zap us!” Darcy demanded, shaking their joined hands. “Make with the timey-whimey already.”

“I can’t,” Jane wailed. “You know I don’t control-” The soldier standing raised his weapon toward them.

“Now, Jane!” He fired, and Darcy closed her eyes and yanked on Jane’s arm, pulling her down. They both tumbled, rolling in the sand and down the side of a dune. Another shot went off, cracking against the rocks at the mouth of the cave. Darcy flopped onto her back at the bottom, and opened her eyes just in time to see a grenade sailing through the air toward them. “Jane!” she screamed, throwing her body over the smaller scientist.

Blackness. That pulling, nauseating feeling, and then Darcy fell with a thump. A second later Jane’s bony ass landed on top of her legs. With trepidation, Darcy looked around. They were in the middle of an outdoor cafe. A woman was staring at them through the glass door, broom forgotten in her hand. Dawn was just beginning, but the buildings were recognizable. Culver campus was just around the corner.

“Whoo-hoo!” Darcy punched a fist into the air in joy. They had made it, safe at home. Or home-adjacent. And there were no half-mangled bodies or gun-toting enemies in sight.

“Whoo-hoo? _Whoo_ -hoo?” Jane rolled off and stood up, fury etched on her face. “What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t be throwing yourself in front of a grenade, Darcy!”

“Actually,” Darcy said thoughtfully, examining the destroyed outdoor furniture and cushions around them and brushed off her butt as she stood, “I think it was one of those bright light concussion thingys. Bucky was showing me-”

“Darcy!”

“What!”

“You’re pregnant, you idiot,” Jane yelled.

The two women stared at each other. Early morning sounds were slowly waking up. Down the street somewhere a car door slammed.

“Sweet Frigga,” Darcy muttered, overwhelmed. All of the sudden, her knees went weak. Jane rushed to help her to a chair, and Darcy had to put her head between her knees or risk giving in to the black dots swimming at the edge of her vision. “Steve would be-” she swallowed, her palm coming to rest over her stomach. “Do you think it is alright?” Her whisper was directed at the ground, but Jane heard and crouched down next to her.

“Six weeks,” she said softly, “not even a thing yet, right? I’m sure you’re both fine.” Her small hand rubbed gently on Darcy’s back. “But just to be sure, let’s have Dr. Vivas take a look when we get back. And maybe, let’s take a plane, instead of Aether travel, okay?”

Darcy laughed, but it sounded wet and wobbly. She nodded and watched the spatter of tears fall to the concrete. “Okay.”

“Excuse me?”  They both looked up to see the woman with the broom poking her head out the door. Her eyes were wide and her dark skin ashy with shock. “Are you – ah – appeared out of thin air?”

“Ah,” Jane looked around at the wicker furniture that had broken Darcy’s fall. “We’ll pay for the damages, if I could borrow your phone, please?”  The woman reached numbly into her apron pocket and held out a cell. Jane smiled while she punched in numbers and patted Darcy’s head. While the other end of the line rang, she suggested to her friend, “And maybe you should tell Steve soon, hm? Before someone ends up delivering a baby in the middle of a war zone, okay?”

 

***

 

As it turned out, they did not have to take a plane. Pepper sent a Stark helicopter and had them back at the Avengers base in less than four hours. Bucky and Wanda had already taken care of the bodies, and Hope had supervised Photon and Peter in securing the surviving bad guys so they could receive medical treatment and wait to be questioned. There weren’t many left alive. The chef found Darcy’s crepes supplies and by eleven in the morning everyone had showered and was sitting down to a buffet of sweet and savory toppings, light French pancakes, and mimosas. Virgin, of course, for Darcy and the trainees.

That was how the rest of the Avengers found them when they arrived. Steve ran in first, not out of breath in the slightest, but with wide eyes and a look of suppressed panic that only faded when he caught sight of Darcy shoving breakfast food into her mouth. There was an open can of Crema Mullida in her hand. He put his hands on his belt, and surveyed the room with his most serious face. HYDRA soldiers had cracked under that expression. Senators had excused themselves from inquiry boards. The President once apologized, _on camera_.

“Wha?” Darcy muttered around a mouthful of Nutella and carbs.

Hope leaned toward Bucky, careful of his casted foot propped on an empty chair. “Does he make that face a lot?”

“Eh,” Bucky shrugged and reached for another helping of bacon. “To be fair, it works a lot more than you’d think.”

“Did you guys know there is a huge black spot on the lawn?” Scott Lang entered next, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. “Like, huge. Mr. Stark looks like he’s going to throw a tantrum.”

Tony entered next, his pace not quite enough to be a jog, but too fast to give any impression of cool or calm. “Pepper? Friday is still syncing with the main server. What happened? Are you-” he cleared his throat, seeing everyone at the table staring at him. “I hope you have an expense report to explain this, Ms. Potts.”

Natasha strolled in at a much more leisurely pace, flanked by Dr. Vivas and Dr. Cho. Vision melded through the wall to stand at Wanda’s side. A thread of red energy quickly circled his wrist.

“As I said on the phone, Tony,” Pepper replied casually, “we had a minor incident. Everything is fine. Barnes was our only major injury. But thank you for bringing Evelyn and Helen with you.” Bucky snorted, rolling his eyes at the idea of a single broken bone being considered ‘major’.

“And the NSA call I got this morning?”

Pepper waved it off, “What is a loan of equipment between contractually obligated business associates? I’m sure they will appreciate the hours of processing time I have offered on SI’s super computer in exchange.”

“And the helicopter crash?” Steve’s tone was far more polite than Tony’s, in deference to Pepper’s authority and the fact that she was a lady, but he was still giving Darcy the stink eye. She winked. Butterflies were having a cage match in her belly, but there was something else there too and despite her hesitation she was looking forward - after breakfast and a quick check up with Dr. Vivas - to when she could exchange the Be Honest with Captain America face for the mushy, lovey-dovey smile of Steve Rogers. There would probably also be tears. It was gonna be great.

Bucky raised one hand to claim responsibility for the helicopter.

“And my roof?” Tony demanded, glaring at the ex-assassin. Darcy exchanged a glance with Jane, but the astrophysicist chose to fill her mouth with strawberries rather than shift blame.   Before anyone could say anything else, Peter Parker and Photon ran into the room, grinning at a tablet between them.

“Okay, at Miss Darcy’s suggestion – oh, excuse me. Captain, Mr. Stark. Scott.” Peter gulped, “Ms. Romanoff.”

Photon had no qualms about their audience, “So we came up with some suggestions. Now this is just a rough draft, so no hating on it, okay?”

“Go for it,” Darcy encouraged, rubbing her hands together with excitement. “We can workshop it later.” Pepper raised one eyebrow but nodded as she sipped her drink.

Photon began, “Hot Mama.”  Steve turned to the girl in confusion. Tony lowered his sunglasses to stare at her.

“Flare,” Peter said.

“Meteor.”

“Celsius.”

“Crimson Rage.”

“Ghost.” Peter faltered, “You know? Like the, ah, pepper? It’s…it’s hot, and…”

Steve’s mouth had fallen open. Natasha was smirking. The two doctors had made their way into the kitchen to pour themselves juice. Tony looked apoplectic.

“Hey!” Scott said brightly, bouncing over to stand by Hope. “Do you have powdered sugar for these? I love powdered sugar! Are those mimosas?”

Hope thrust her glass at him. “Shut up, Scott.”

“Yep, shutting up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a long way to go for a pun, but I went there. Thanks for sticking with me.


End file.
